Charlton and Coventry fans to march together

Fans of Charlton Athletic and Coventry City will be taking part in a joint demonstration against their respective owners before their match at The Valley on Saturday 15th October.

Last week, Coventry City fans held a public meeting launching a campaign to remove hedge-fund owners SISU from the club.

Meanwhile in South London, the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) has said it will resume its protests against Charlton Athletic’s Belgian owners.

Both sets of fans have committed to taking part in joint action against their deeply unpopular owners.

An alliance of supporter groups at Coventry City have united under the "Fight The Jimmy Hill Way" campaign banner. In a statement, the alliance said: "The prospect of two sets of rival supporters working together is rare and is bound to catch the media attention."

Sky Blues fans will join their counterparts from Charlton in a March towards The Valley before the two teams meet on for their 3pm kick-off on Saturday 15th October.

The Sky Blues Trust said it is fully supportive of the march and will be encouraging Coventry City fans to make the trip to London.

As a display of unity, Charlton fans will be carrying "SISU out" banners and Coventry supporters will take "Roland Out" banners into the ground.

Ben Tegg from CARD said: "The idea is that both sets of fans will be marching together.

"The away fans have been fantastic for us this year. We even had AFC Wimbledon fans refuse to go into the ground when their anti-Roland banners were turned away.

"It's quite significant that Coventry fans are joining us in protesting against their owners. It's a huge problem across all of football."

Both sides are struggling in League One this season, managing just three wins between them. Coventry City lie joint bottom, with manager Tony Mowbray quitting last week, and the club faces an uncertain future.

Things aren’t looking much better at The Valley, with the 27,000 seater stadium attracting some of its smallest crowds in living memory – season ticket and matchday sales have dropped significantly.

CARD have labelled Duchatelet’s running of the club as “incompetent”, failing to offer leadership on the pitch or off it. “Encapsulated,” CARD say “by the loss of almost 40 per cent of season ticket holders this year and a corresponding collapse in the atmosphere at home games.”